Phonograph needle



" ay 1 1941. a v. SCHNEIDER 2, 41,482

PHONOGRAPH NEEDLE.

Filed llarc h 25, 1940 '19 3 @472 mmrywmwr Patented May 13, 1941 PHONOGRAPH NEEDLE Emmor V. Schneider, Alliance, Ohio, assignor to Alliance Manufacturing Company, Alliance,

Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application March 25, 1940, Serial No. 325,701

, p 1 Claim.

The invention relates to phonograph needles and more particularly to a cutting or recording needle for cutting the sound track in a phonograph record. a

The recent revival of interest in phonograph has created a considerable demand for a combination recording and playback instrument on which the operator may make his own records and then play these or other phonograph rec ords.

Such combination instruments are provided with one arm for carrying the cutting or record- I ins needle with suitable tension means thereon and screw feeding means for properly spacing the grooves or sound track, and a second arm for carrying the play-back needle by means of which the sound from phonograph: records may be reproduced.

It is known that recent attempts have been made to produce such a combination instrument with a single arm having means forreleasing the tension and screw feed means when it is desired to use the arm to play back the records.

Such instruments, however, have not proven satisfactory due to'the fact that the play-back needle should be located at an angle of from about 22 to 25 to the vertical while the ordinary cutting or recording needle is designed to operate efiiciently at an angle not more than 2 from the vertical.

With the needle receiving socket in the arm located at an angle of 22 to 25 to the vertical so as to properly position the play-back needle, it has been found that the ordinary cutting or recording needle will not satisfactorily operate to properly cut the sound track or groove in a record.

The angle of this socket cannot be located substantially vertical to position the cutting needle substantially perpendicularly to the record as the play-back needle would then be held in substantially vertical position and not only would not operate properly to reproduce sound, but would scratch and cut the. record. i

It is, therefore, an object of the present immovement to provide a cutting needle having an angularly disposed cutting edge whereby the cutting needle may be located in the angular socket oi the arm and the cutting edge thereof will be substantially vertical or perpendicular to the record, whereby a single arm may'thus be used for both recording and reproducing.

The above objects together with others which will be apparent from the drawing and following description, or which may be later referred to, may be attained by constructing the improved cutting or recording needlein the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a combinati'on recording and play-back arm showing the improved cutting ried thereby; a

Fig. 2, an enlarged elevation of the rear side of the improved cutting needle;

Fig. 3, a similar view of one side of the improved cutting needle;

Fig. 4, a similar view of the front side of the improved needle; and.

Fig. 5, an end view of the needle.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A portion of the arm is indicated at it.

.The releasable screw feed means and tension means which adapt the arm for recording are not shown since the construction of the combination recording and play-back arm form no part of the generally present invention which pertains merely to the improved recording or cutting needle.

Owing to the fact that the play-back needle must necessarily be located at an angle of about 22 to-25 to the vertical, it has been deemed necessary to locate the needle receiving socket ii, of the combination arm, at an angleof 22 to 25 to the vertical.

This permits the play-back needle to be located at the customary angle so that the combination arm may be satisfactorily used for reproduction purposes, but because of the fact that the cutting-edge of the recording or cutting needie is designed to operate at an angle of not more than 2 to the vertical, the type of recording or cutting needle such as is used in present practice will not satisfactorily operate to cut the sound track in a record when located at the angle it assumes when placed in the socket I I.

The present invention, therefore, consists in the provision of an improved recording-or cutting needle having its cutting edge located at an angle of about 22 to 25 to the axis of the needle so that when the improved recording needle is placed in the socket II the cutting edge.

thereof will be substantially vertical.

This needle may have its lower end cut oil at an angle as indicated at l3, in substantially the same manner as the ordinary recording needle, and this'end portion of the needle is V-shaped as in ordinary practice as indicated at It so that it terminates forwardly in a sharp cutting point l5.

or recording needle car- This cutting needle differs from the usual cutting needle, however, in that the forward face of the cutting edge or pointof the needle is cut away at an angle of 22 to 25 to the axis of the needle as best indicated at IS in Fig. 3.

This cut away portion extends inward to substantially the axial center of the needle as shown in said figure and may then curve abruptly outward as at H, and as in usual practice, the lower portion oi the needle may be provided with the downwardly tapered flat surface I8 terminating at the point l1.

For the purpose of properly positioning the needle in the socket II, the shank portion of the needle'may be flattened as shown'at 19 on the side diametrically opposite to the cutting edge as in usual practice, for engagement by the usual set screw 20 ordinarily provided on the arm.

With this construction it will be seen that when the improved recording needle is placed in the angular socket H of the arm, the cutting edge l6 will be located in substantially vertical position and substantially perpendicular to the record as indicated at 2i in Figure 1 so as to properly cut the spiral groove or sound traekin the record in the same manner as the ordinary recording needle when located in the substantially vertical socket of the conventional cutting arm.

With this use of this improved recording needle the combined recording and play-back arm may be provided with the angular socket designed to hold the conventional play-back needle at the customary angle, and this same angular socket may receive the improved recording needle when the combination arm is used as a recording arm.

I claim:

A phonograph recording needle comprising a substantially cylindrical straight shank having a fiat front face and an end terminating in a cut-away portion forming a V-shape cutting edge below said cut-away portion and having a flat front face extending from substantially the axial center of the shank at an angle of 22 to 25 to the longitudinal axis of the shank and terminating in said cutting edge, the opposite side of the end being beveled to form sides meeting to form a sharp edge.

EMMOR V. SCI-m'EIDER. 

